How Can We Increase The Percentage Of Women In The Industry?

Just 26 per cent of those employed in Britain’s digital industries are women, a new report from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), had shown on Tuesday.

UKCES is a public body which aims to advise the government and such issues.

Back in 2002, that number was 33 per cent. Out of UK’s complete workforce, 47 per cent are women.

An investor in Code Kingdoms, and founder of Code First Girls, Alice Bentinck, says that everyone must help young women see the tech sector as a viable and stimulating option:

“Three years ago, we had to explain to female students what code was – now they are actively seeking us out and wanting to learn to code. It’s important that more is done to help young women at the point where they make their career choices so that they see the tech sector as a viable and stimulating option.

“At Code First: Girls we see that many of the female university students who join the programme were exposed to code at a young age. We need to make sure that coding games, like Code Kingdoms, make it into young girls hands, so that they have an awareness of code which can re-spark an interest later in life.”

Ross Targett, the CEO of Code Kingdoms that teaches children how to code says giving them access to technology as early as possible might solve this problem:

“In order to increase the number of females choosing this career path – and to counter the perception of computing being a ‘boys’ thing – we need to make sure all children have access to technology in the classroom at as early an age as possible.

“As the report states, there are a number of schemes like TechFuture Girls that are doing great work to redress the gender imbalance, but we really need to be providing children with access to technology and appropriate teaching well before they reach secondary school.

“Most teachers don’t yet have access to the tools and resources they need to teach ICT effectively, especially to younger pupils. We also need more technology specialists in the classroom in order to help the teachers get up to speed and ensure they have the level of knowledge required to really enthuse their pupils.”